This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/058,519, filed Jan. 28, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,918 and claims priority based on an application filed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2001, application number 0111519.5.
This invention relates to an apparatus and method, particularly but not exclusively useful for breaking railway rails.
The apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention is mounted on an hydraulically-powered arm of a suitable vehicle. The term “suitable vehicle” as used herein means a vehicle having an arm of one or more articulated portions, the arm being powered wholly or partially by hydraulic power. Examples of suitable vehicles include excavating vehicles having wheels or tracks and having an arm of one or more articulated portions. The arm is powered wholly or partially by hydraulic power and typically carries on its end a bucket for earth excavation or some other tool such as a pneumatic or percussion device or means for manipulating objects such as telephone poles, posts and the like.
Another example of a suitable vehicle for use with the invention may include a railway maintenance wagon having flanged wheels for running on the railway track, and having a similar articulated arm powered by hydraulic power.
It is known in the art to provide an arm on an excavating vehicle having a scrap shear provided thereon, the scrap shear apparatus being adapted to shear or cut a wide range of tough materials of differing properties and of differing sizes. However, the breaking up of steel rails such as used in railways present particular problems. The rails are of regular, and relatively small, cross-section and the breaking of such rails in a general purpose scrap shear apparatus is relatively slow and inefficient. Further, the rails are brittle, and have a tendency to shatter or splinter when being engaged by a shear attachment. The rails must be positioned for or fed into the shear apparatus which is a time consuming and potentially hazardous activity.
The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, directed towards the breaking of rails as used on railway lines of the type having a substantially I-beam cross-section, including a wearing flange and a base flange interconnected by a web. The wearing flange, being the flange on which the carriage wheels run, has a thinner width and a thicker depth than the base flange, which is seated on the ground. Such rails are made to standardized dimensions of a hard material and are relatively brittle, with a tendency to shatter and splinter when broken. Such rails will be referred to as rails of the aforesaid type.